Lansdowne Lifehttp://www.lansdownelife.com
Fri, 06 Oct 2017 05:25:05 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.369374983How to prep your Etsy shop (and life!) for the holidayshttp://www.lansdownelife.com/2016/10/prep-etsy-shop-life-holidays.html
Tue, 11 Oct 2016 01:46:16 +0000http://www.lansdownelife.com/?p=7401A busy holiday sales season is sort of a double-edged sword. It’s what many of us makers and artists work toward and hope for all year (Making consistent sales! Finally!). Two thirds of my retail sales are done in just the last three months of the year. But add all that extra work to what […]

A busy holiday sales season is sort of a double-edged sword. It’s what many of us makers and artists work toward and hope for all year (Making consistent sales! Finally!). Two thirds of my retail sales are done in just the last three months of the year. But add all that extra work to what can be the most hectic time of year, and it can be positively overwhelming if you’re not prepared.

Now I know preparing so far in advance can make you feel a little silly, like the nerd studying for a test that isn’t for another two months. But when the busy season hits? Trust me, you’ll feel like the smartest kid in the class.

Do Future You a favor. Don’t wait until you are bombarded with orders and have zero extra time! Here are 21 tips to prepare your business and schedule for success and sanity during the holiday rush.

Prep your shop

1. Work ahead

Make your thing. Make lots of it. If what you make takes a lot of hands-on time (think: knitting, etc.), you may have even started stockpiling merchandise through the summer. Also, start packaging or tagging your items, if that’s something you do. Just get them ready to ship.

2. Get your shop in order

Freshen up your product descriptions. Update your profile or about page. Fill out any empty parts of your Etsy profile or policies. Make sure your photos are awesome. Rearrange and organize your items on the first page of your Etsy shop to show off your best products. Add links to related items. Update your shop announcement and other customer communications with holiday lead times or shipping cutoffs.

If you have a stand-alone website, shine that up as well. Last month, I spent several days moving my website over to Shopify (from Woocommerce) mainly due to extremely slow hosting, and I’m loving it so much.

3. List your products

Make sure you have all your available inventory listed ASAP. Now is not too early. I wouldn’t wait much past November 1 to have everything available for sale. Fill that shop!

4. Order materials and shipping supplies

You may even want to over-buy a bit if you have the cash flow and they are things you can’t pick up locally. You don’t want to go into panic mode if fortune smiles on you, and your phone is suddenly making that cha-ching sale notification every few minutes.

I wish I had a formula for knowing how much to buy, but I still don’t really know what I’m doing in the area of sales projections and forecasts. All the variables are constantly changing, and it’s impossible to know what the future holds. Presumably, if you are seeing growth over the year, then you can expect a better holiday season as well.

Hold on, I’m about to get nerdy on you. In 2014, 66% of my retail sales were in Q4 (that is, October, November, and December). In 2015, it was 63%. This year, I’m pretty on-track revenue-wise with last year (though with a much more focused product line), so I’m planning for the same. Pretty consistent, even with loads of changes (some different products, different sales channels). My business is weighted on Christmas because I have a very “gifty” sort of business. Plus holiday cards are a big piece of that. Your business might be more heavily weighted on wedding season, or Father’s Day, or Halloween, or something else entirely, so adjust accordingly.

5. Prep your packing

Fold your boxes. Stamp or sticker your envelopes. Order more business cards or packaging inserts, if needed. Buy more printer ink for shipping labels/packing slips.

6. Plan out your holiday promotions

Plot out what you’re doing and when. Prepare graphics, email newsletters, social media posts, coupon codes, or whatever else you need to do to run a successful promotion.

7. Organize your inventory

If things are all jumbled, it will make it that much harder to fill orders and keep track of what was sold. Make sure the quantities you have match the quantities available for sale in your shop so you don’t over-sell. Maybe you’ll realize you have more on hand than you remembered, or you’ll find a pile of stuff you forgot to list.

I more than doubled my greeting card selection this year, and was running out of storage space, so I recently bought these open-top boxes (*affiliate link) and have my Christmas cards all lined up for packaging.

8. Organize your work area and shipping station

Streamline where you’ll be working for the next three months. Put things away. Get rid of the junk. Clear out the clutter.

9. Get your admin stuff up-to-date

Bring your bookkeeping to current. Plus any filing or other paperwork you’ve been putting off. Get it squared away now.

10. Clear your email inbox

If you are not already one of those inbox zero types, do yourself a favor and weed out the junk. Archive what you need to keep, then stay on top if throughout the season. I keep emails about open orders in my inbox until they are fulfilled, then I archive them. I like to organize my inbox in those short bursts of time, like when I’m waiting to pick the kids up at school.

11. Clear your digital workspace

Organize computer files so you can find them when you need them. Back up your data! Send all the unnecessary stuff to the recycle bin. Create shortcuts on your desktop to often used files and folders. Do any software updates or printer maintenance that might snag you at just the wrong time.

Oh and if your phone storage is constantly running full and can’t take one more photo? Set up cloud storage or Google Photos, delete old texts/photo duplicates/unused apps, transfer your photos to a computer… whatever you need to do to get that under control.

12. Pre-write your social media posts

I write a bunch of updates in a spreadsheet and loosely plot them out on the calendar. There’s always spontaneous stuff that I can insert when needed, but for product releases, promotions, and holidays, you can plan those out ahead of time. I try to take big batches of photos so I have enough ready. Also, review your profiles and clean them up if necessary.

13. Investigate advertising, if that’s something you want to try

Read up on Facebook Ads or Pinterest Promoted Pins and the best way to use them. Etsy’s promoted listings can also work well if you aren’t seeing your items in the first few pages of search results. And Etsy just added Google Shopping as a promotional venue. These are all semi-complicated, so do your research before you jump in.

14. Tell people about holiday craft shows you have coming up

If you are participating in craft shows, tell people! Add your Etsy shop to your events on Etsy Local if they are listed. Join the event invitation on Facebook (if there is one). List your upcoming events on your website. Add social media updates about them as they come.

Prep your life

15. Stock up on household supplies

You can’t buy fresh produce ahead of time, but you sure can stock up on things like toothpaste, toilet paper, toiletries, cleaning supplies, and anything else you might need for the next few months. Running out of things means extra trips to the store, and that’s wasted time. Maybe you can turn that weekly Target trip into a monthly one. #momgoals

16. Make meals ahead of time

Are you sensing a theme here? I try to minimize store trips whenever possible, and especially during the holiday shopping season. Make meal prep easy during your busiest season. Making dinner tonight? Make it a double and freeze half for later. Search Pinterest for freezer meals or slow cooker recipes, and plan ahead. Buy healthy prepared foods to keep on hand.

We have a make-ahead meal place near us where you can make a bunch of dinners at once to put in your freezer. (And it only takes like an hour because they do all the prepping and cleaning!) It’s more expensive than groceries, but cheaper than takeout. I heart it so much!

17. Clear the docket

Finish up any ongoing non-business projects (think: home improvements, personal craft projects, etc.). Fix things that are broken. Get things off your plate. Don’t take on any new projects.

18. Don’t volunteer for extra things during November or December

Yeah, that might sound selfish, but I try not to take on extra things during this time in the interest of not going crazy. If you can say no, say no. And then offer to help in February.

19. Plan and prep your holiday

Figure out what you really want to do this season. You don’t have to attend every event, party, or ride-through holiday light display. Just pick the ones that you love.

20. Get your holiday shopping done now

I’ve already started Christmas shopping. I started in September, actually. Santa presents are nearly 50% complete. Family presents are maybe at 25%, but I have a full list of ideas. I always make surprise balls for my girls, so I’m also picking up tiny stocking stuffers!

21. Don’t forget all the holiday extras

Got kids? Plan out their holiday outfits now. Oh, and plan your holiday outfit now. Buy or make your advent calendar, if that’s something you do. Make Christmas cookies? Mix up the dough to freeze now and bake later.

If you send holiday cards, buy them now. Or if you’ll be ordering photo cards, at least pick out the design you’d like and bookmark it for later. Buy stamps. Start addressing envelopes!

]]>7401Music Note T-shirt pre-order open until Oct. 15!http://www.lansdownelife.com/2016/10/music-note-t-shirt-pre-order-open-oct-15.html
Tue, 04 Oct 2016 22:26:08 +0000http://www.lansdownelife.com/?p=7391Just dropping in with a quick announcement. If you don’t follow my business on Instagram or Facebook, you may not have heard… After many inquiries over the years, I’m so excited to finally offer T-shirts with my music note designs! There are three designs available, printed in black on USA-made heather gray shirts. They’re going to […]

Just dropping in with a quick announcement. If you don’t follow my business on Instagram or Facebook, you may not have heard…

After many inquiries over the years, I’m so excited to finally offer T-shirts with my music note designs! There are three designs available, printed in black on USA-made heather gray shirts. They’re going to be great!

Full range of sizes, from toddler to kids to women’s to adult 2XL. I’ve opened up a pre-order with special pricing of $20 for adult sizes & $16 for kid sizes.

Pre-order will only be open until October 15, and I won’t be ordering every size to have in stock. If you’re interested, please make sure you order before then to reserve your size! Shirts will ship out in early November.

As a bonus, every pre-order will include this vinyl dog sticker!

Hope to be back soon with a more “normal” blog post. The hustle is real.

]]>7391Erin Heaton Art: State of the business addresshttp://www.lansdownelife.com/2016/07/erin-heaton-art-state-business-address.html
http://www.lansdownelife.com/2016/07/erin-heaton-art-state-business-address.html#commentsWed, 27 Jul 2016 00:05:45 +0000http://www.lansdownelife.com/?p=7328It’s been quite a while since I have written a post about my business. This phase of life I’m in right now feels extra scrambly and pressed for time, and this blog has been the one to take the hit. Narrowing focus There’s a lot of trial and error when you are establishing a business. When I started […]

It’s been quite a while since I have written a post about my business. This phase of life I’m in right now feels extra scrambly and pressed for time, and this blog has been the one to take the hit.

Narrowing focus

There’s a lot of trial and error when you are establishing a business. When I started almost three years ago, I threw so many things at the wall to see what stuck. Once it was clear what worked (and what worked best), I just needed to do more of that and less or none of everything else.

Earlier this year, I decided to go all-in on my music note art, meaning I dropped everything else I was selling in my shop (picture frames, other art). My time and focus was being divided, and the frames were a major drain. While the frames were still selling, I don’t have lots of extra time, and I just didn’t see a way that it could scale. It’s a hard decision to stop doing something that is still making money, but I also felt like my shop was lacking cohesion. It had to be done for the greater good.

I could tell this was the right decision immediately. I was able to truly focus, spend all of my business energy on one thing. My ideas started flowing, I was able to come up with more and better products, and I am excited to see what the rest of the year will bring. Even without frame sales, my monthly income has exceeded what I made the same month last year. (My business is very seasonal, so I compare monthly income with the same month from the previous year. April 2016 to April 2015, etc.) If you feel yourself being pulled in two directions like this, I would suggest focusing in on just one thing (at least for a while) to see where that leads you.

Etsy is still my biggest source of sales.

About a year ago, I redesigned my business website and added a shop using WooCommerce. It took a lot of time to set up (weeks?) and stretched my meager web development skills. Etsy is still where most people “discover” me and where I make the most sales, but I believe a professional-looking website is important for perception and presentation even if most sales are being made elsewhere.

WooCommerce is OK. The big plus is that it is free to use and has no transaction fees. (Payment processing fees still apply.) If you are already elbows deep into WordPress and don’t mind picking through the back end of a website (and googling endlessly when you can’t figure things out), then it’s an OK choice, but I definitely would not recommend to anyone without that experience. Setting up a shop with WooCommerce is complicated, and WordPress isn’t the best user interface for fulfilling orders. It’s a little clunky. Half of me wants to switch to a slicker platform, but the other half of me doesn’t want to take on that expense (or time expense). So for now, I’m staying put.

Edit: 09/10/2016 – I just moved my shop from WooCommerce to Shopify. I couldn’t take the slow hosting (Bluehost) and unfriendly interface anymore! There were times that it took 20+ seconds for my shop to load, and no one is sticking around for that. Had to bail!

I’m an LLC now…

Which basically means that I’ve set up the legal structure to separate my business and personal assets. It doesn’t offer any real day-to-day benefits or tax benefits or anything, but I felt it was a necessary thing to do (similar to paying for insurance). Setting up the sole member LLC was an easy process; I had an attorney do it for a few hundred dollars. But what I didn’t realize was that I was essentially re-starting my business and that meant re-establishing everything (new bank account, new tax ID numbers, etc.) and all that unexpected paperwork was a real pain.

Art Licensing

Perhaps the biggest thing of all to happen to my business in the past year has been my venture into art licensing. I don’t have a licensing agent, and it wasn’t something I was pursuing.

But an opportunity to have my designs featured on candy packaging in Japan presented itself, and I couldn’t have written a more perfect story line. It is still surreal to think about my designs showing up on products in stores halfway around the world. Oh, and they even made a TV commercial! People in Japan post photos on Instagram, and it is so fun to see!

From that exposure, another opportunity came along and my work is being featured as cover art for a pair of compilation CDs released on Columbia Nippon records in Japan. The CDs were just released at the end of June.

I never could have imagined anything like this happening when I first posted my work two and a half years ago. Just one example that if you are doing work you are proud of, it’s worth putting it into the world. Keep posting. Show your work!

Have questions about creative business? Leave a comment. I’m always happy to share what I know!

]]>http://www.lansdownelife.com/2016/07/erin-heaton-art-state-business-address.html/feed67328Art birthday partyhttp://www.lansdownelife.com/2016/07/art-birthday-party.html
Thu, 21 Jul 2016 12:00:11 +0000http://www.lansdownelife.com/?p=7342Like I mentioned in my previous post, I made a serious effort to keep the girls’ birthday parties low stress this year. Elise wanted an art party, which was relatively easy to pull off with all the things I had in the house already. We made paint palette cupcakes and art canvas cookies that we decorated with […]

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I made a serious effort to keep the girls’ birthday parties low stress this year. Elise wanted an art party, which was relatively easy to pull off with all the things I had in the house already. We made paint palette cupcakes and art canvas cookies that we decorated with food markers (*affiliate link).

We had a table to paint tiles (no photos, sorry!) and a big sheet of paper covered the table for doodling. To my surprise, everyone did some sort of creating and those food markers were seriously fun.

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through those links, I may receive a small commission. See full disclosure.

]]>7342Strawberry birthday partyhttp://www.lansdownelife.com/2016/07/strawberry-birthday-party.html
Thu, 21 Jul 2016 00:43:42 +0000http://www.lansdownelife.com/?p=7330This was the year I really made an effort to do simpler birthday parties for the kids (yeah, restraint takes effort!) and that was also reflected in the documentation of them (or lack there of). We re-used banners and decorations from past parties. Ordered pizza instead of stressing out over the menu. If there was a shortcut […]

This was the year I really made an effort to do simpler birthday parties for the kids (yeah, restraint takes effort!) and that was also reflected in the documentation of them (or lack there of). We re-used banners and decorations from past parties. Ordered pizza instead of stressing out over the menu. If there was a shortcut to take, I took it.

Etta has always loved fruit, so we decided to have a sweet strawberry party for her. Pink + red + a defined food? Definitely an easy theme to work with!

]]>7330Restoring original plaster walls (after scraping all that wallpaper)http://www.lansdownelife.com/2016/06/update-scraping-wallpaper.html
Tue, 21 Jun 2016 15:40:56 +0000http://www.lansdownelife.com/?p=7316By virtue that my last post has been sitting here four months with no follow up, you could probably assume that this project got the best of me, and that it still looks like we live in a crumbling tenement building. Not so! I actually finished this project around the first of March. I am just woefully […]

By virtue that my last post has been sitting here four months with no follow up, you could probably assume that this project got the best of me, and that it still looks like we live in a crumbling tenement building. Not so!

I actually finished this project around the first of March. I am just woefully slow when it comes to updating this blog, and this room is objectively the darkest and worst room to photograph in the entire house.

After hours upon hours of scraping and cleaning and repairing innumerable cracks in the plaster, it was finally time to prime and paint. I chose a very neutral light gray (Valspar’s Woodlawn Colonial Gray) because I’m reserving the right to shuffle bedrooms in the next couple of years, and I didn’t want to have to repaint. It’s definitely one of those presto-chango shades that looks greenish or bluish or gray or purpley depending on the light, and these phone photos aren’t the best representation.

A while ago, I was talking about this project to someone and noted that this was the totally thankless kind of DIY project. Sure, I notice the walls are better, but my goodness, the end result is just clean walls, what should have been there in the first place. So to most eyes, the before/after change is not that big, and that’s sort of unsatisfying knowing how much work I put into this. Definitely a labor of love like most restoration work. But it feels like the walls can breathe now without all those layers of junk, and I know the house appreciates it.

]]>7316Scraping off 100 pounds of painted wallpaperhttp://www.lansdownelife.com/2016/02/scraping-off-painted-wallpaper.html
Sat, 06 Feb 2016 04:15:53 +0000http://www.lansdownelife.com/?p=7299It wasn’t until we had lived in this house quite a while that I realized our bedroom walls were a mess. What I initially thought was textured plaster turned out to be many layers of painted wallpaper. Wallpaper seams were showing through, both horizontal and vertical, leaving a crisscross pattern on the walls. The weird faux plaster […]

It wasn’t until we had lived in this house quite a while that I realized our bedroom walls were a mess. What I initially thought was textured plaster turned out to be many layers of painted wallpaper. Wallpaper seams were showing through, both horizontal and vertical, leaving a crisscross pattern on the walls. The weird faux plaster texture was irritating mostly because I knew real plaster was lurking underneath.

In some areas, the mess of layers bubbled away from the wall itself and started cracking, making the whole room look like something worse than a junky college-town rental. The ceiling was even more scarred, with multiple sloppy crack repairs. With cracks running through the middle of the patches as well. How’s that for irony?

For years, this project was not a high priority, but after staring at the cracks and the seams for so long, I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I knew there were secrets lurking inside these walls, and I wasn’t disappointed with what I found.

Stripping wallpaper has such a bad reputation, and that fear of work makes people do stupid things like try to “hide” wallpaper seams beneath more and more layers. If you take away anything from reading this, then let it be this:

Don’t paint over wallpaper. Literally, or metaphorically. Deal with your problems, don’t just cover them up or pass them off.

Instead I was left to deal with three layers of wallpaper, a few layers of paint, a skim coat of wall texture (an attempt to cover up those wallpaper seams, no doubt), attempts to patch plaster cracks on top of the wallpaper, and a few more layers of paint. A full sixteenth of an inch of crap stuck to the walls with varying degrees of actual sticking to the walls. Honestly, this was even more than I expected to find.

Some parts were like peeling a hard-boiled egg and came off easily in large strips. Other parts were like chiseling stone, chip by chip. I probably hauled out more than 100 pounds of paint chips.

The wallpaper itself came off like nothing at all using only hot water. It was thin and uncoated. No thicker than newsprint. All those subsequent bad decisions could have been avoided if someone long ago had given up an afternoon of their time and stripped the wallpaper before painting.

On the upside? This house’s gift to me is beautiful, bare original plaster walls. People like to complain about plaster walls, but I love them. I love their coolness and their stone-like finish. They make a house feel solid.

This project has been a labor of love. If not love for a project itself, then for the house. Our house is not fancy, and we are definitely not fancy, but we all deserve better than 86 years of poor decision making. The whole removal process took at least 20 (maybe 30?) work hours of intensive scraping. And I haven’t begun to repair the cracks, prime, or paint yet. More to come!

]]>7299Collected updates: December editionhttp://www.lansdownelife.com/2015/12/collected-updates.html
Sat, 12 Dec 2015 06:08:46 +0000http://www.lansdownelife.com/?p=7267I’m back! I certainly didn’t mean to disappear for months. I was feeling really overwhelmed over the summer and into fall, and this blog was the easiest thing to let go of for a while. Over that past couple of years, I’ve been slowly transitioning from a stay-at-home mom to a part-time, self-employed, work-at-home mom providing […]

I’m back! I certainly didn’t mean to disappear for months. I was feeling really overwhelmed over the summer and into fall, and this blog was the easiest thing to let go of for a while.

Over that past couple of years, I’ve been slowly transitioning from a stay-at-home mom to a part-time, self-employed, work-at-home mom providing my own childcare 95% of the time. More doable with one kid in school, but having them both at home over the summer left me with no mental clarity whatsoever. Something had to give!

Anyway, I just wanted to drop in and update you on a few things. The days of blogging by the calendar might be over for me, but I do have a number of projects and house things that deserve posts of their own, so I hope I can find the time for that soonish.

Plus I’ve been watching too much Rehab Addict again, and I’m getting an itch to strip something or paint something or just make a mess in general. But not until January, for sure.

I did a real live craft show!

I had participated in one before, but this was my first normal show, with my own booth and displays. It went really well! Most of my anxieties about doing shows in general are gone now. I’ve been selling online for long enough that I don’t have any issues around pricing, packaging, display, etc. And all of my birthday parties have prepared me well for creating displays out of random stuff.

As exhausting as it was, I was totally ready to do another one within a couple of days. It made me wish I had applied for another, especially during this holiday season. (But then a last minute application came along, and I am doing another on December 19!) I’m not sure if doing them year-round would be a good strategy for me, but an indoor show, during the holiday gift buying season? It’s a no-brainer!

If you’d like to follow along with updates about my business, find me on Instagram or Facebook.

We got a deck!

It only took like a year to find a contractor, get the necessary structural repairs, and get the silly thing done, but it’s finally done and we can use our back door again. More soon.

The Tomorrow Society

One last thing, my husband started a new blog… with a podcast! He previously blogged about film and TV, but he felt that had run its course and so he is indulging his other love: theme parks. If you are into Disney or theme parks in general, take a look/listen!

]]>7267Last chance: Vintage maps leaving shop 07/31/15http://www.lansdownelife.com/2015/07/last-chance-vintage-maps-leaving-shop-073115.html
http://www.lansdownelife.com/2015/07/last-chance-vintage-maps-leaving-shop-073115.html#commentsThu, 23 Jul 2015 12:00:55 +0000http://www.lansdownelife.com/?p=7002I’ve had these vintage telephone service area maps in my shop for a while, and I even added one to the collection in our family room. But on the path to essentialism, I’m paring down what I sell, and these maps will be leaving the shop forever July 31, 2015. So if you’ve had your […]

But on the path to essentialism, I’m paring down what I sell, and these maps will be leaving the shop forever July 31, 2015. So if you’ve had your eye on one, now is the time! Many states are sold out, but I still have a number available. All marked down to $5.

States I have available: Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia/Florida, Indiana/Kentucky, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Wyoming, Vermont.

]]>http://www.lansdownelife.com/2015/07/last-chance-vintage-maps-leaving-shop-073115.html/feed27002Final bathroom renovation update!http://www.lansdownelife.com/2015/07/final-bathroom-renovation-update.html
Tue, 21 Jul 2015 12:00:35 +0000http://www.lansdownelife.com/?p=7231Our bathroom renovation is finally complete. This whole thing started nearly two years ago when we discovered a cracked plumbing stack, but that was really just the final and indisputable straw. You can see what this bathroom used to look like in this post from 2010. We kept all the fixtures in the same place, but we corrected […]

Our bathroom renovation is finally complete. This whole thing started nearly two years ago when we discovered a cracked plumbing stack, but that was really just the final and indisputable straw. You can see what this bathroom used to look like in this post from 2010. We kept all the fixtures in the same place, but we corrected a number of weirdo design decisions (like adding a door and removing that strange elevated portion of the floor around the toilet). And we bumped out the wall into the bedroom about six inches, which allowed us to put in a bigger shower.

While the floor space is quite gracious, this is still a small bathroom. The ceiling is short. Just six and a half feet over by the windows and seven feet in the shower. So my strategy for the lighting, medicine cabinet and such was just to make everything compact. I wanted fixtures that hugged the wall, and didn’t stick out too far. The old sconces projected into the room way too much and this feels much more spacious.

So after all that, it’s a real bathroom again! And although I still need to find or make some sort of art for that frame over the toilet, I thought it was time to share and cross this project off my list. Finally!